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13 hours ago
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Police have said “10 or so” people have been killed and at least five others wounded in a campus shooting in the southern Swedish city of Örebro, in what Sweden’s prime minister has described as the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
The local police chief, Roberto Eid Forest, said investigating officers were still in the process of identifying victims but that they believed the “primary perpetrator”, not previously known to police, was among the dead.
He said authorities had had “no prior warning signs” of the attack, which happened soon after 12.30pm local time on Tuesday at a campus housing an adult education centre and other learning facilities, and that it was believed the gunman acted alone.
“At the moment we are confident that no more attacks will occur,” Forest said, although police could not rule out others having been involved. The campus and local schools where students had been in lockdown had been safely evacuated, he said.
Police said they had opened an investigation into murder, arson and an aggravated weapons offence.
The prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, described the attack in the city, which is about 125 miles (200km) west of Stockholm, as a “terrible act of violence” on a “very painful day for all of Sweden”.
He said the government was in close contact with police and the operation was continuing. “My thoughts are [also] with all of those whose normal school day was turned into fear. Being locked up in a classroom fearing for your life is a nightmare no one should have to experience.”
Police needed to be allowed “the peace of mind they need to investigate what happened and how these horrific crimes could have occurred”, Kristersson said.
“This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history,” he told reporters, as he urged people not to speculate about the motive.
King Carl XVI Gustaf conveyed his condolences. “It is with deep sadness and dismay that my family and I received the news about the terrible atrocity in Örebro,” he said.
Forest gave no further information about the injured. “The reason we cannot be more specific at this time is that the damage outcome is so great,” he said. Police had earlier said four people had had surgery and one was in a serious condition.
The county council said six people, five with gunshot wounds, had been treated at Örebro university hospital. It said no children were among the wounded, but gave no further information about their ages or the extent of their injuries.
Forest told an earlier media conference police had no indication of motive. “When it comes to saying anything more about the perpetrator, it is still very early,” he said. “The operation is ongoing and that will undoubtedly become clearer.”
Campus Risbergska, where the shooting occurred, serves students mainly over the age of 20. It also offers primary and upper secondary school courses as well as classes in Swedish for immigrants, vocational training and programmes for people with disabilities.
One teacher, Lena Warenmark, told the broadcaster she had been confined to her study after hearing “gunshots very close”. She said she heard “probably 10 shots” in total, with a short pause between two bursts. She said there had been an unusually small number of students on campus as many had gone home after sitting an exam.
Johannes Sjöberg, whose daughter is a student at the campus, told the broadcaster SVT he had been in touch by text message with her throughout after she had arrived at the school about five minutes before the shooting started. “She saw blood and the teachers were good at helping them, bringing them in and locking the door,” Sjöberg said. He said his daughter was safe and was providing information to the police.
Andreas Sundling, 28, was among those who barricaded themselves inside the campus. “We heard three bangs and loud screams,” he told the Expressen newspaper.
All those who took shelter were evacuated by mid-afternoon, police said. Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, said someone had thrown open the door to her classroom just after lunchbreak and shouted to everyone to get out. “I took all my 15 students out into the hallway and we started running,” she told Reuters by phone. “Then I heard two shots but we made it out. We were close to the school entrance. I saw people dragging injured out, first one, then another. I realised it was very serious.”
School attacks are rare in Sweden but several serious incidents have taken place in recent years. In March 2022, an 18-year-old student stabbed two teachers to death at a high school in the southern city of Malmö.
Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after wounding another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhättan. The sword-wielding assailant was later killed by police.
